How Marvel’s Kevin Feige Reacted To Seeing Paul Bettany’s Vision For The First Time

Paul Bettany has been part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe since it launched in 2008 with Iron Man, but for the franchise's first seven years, we simply heard him as J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark's trusty A.I. That changed in Avengers: Age of Ultron, when J.A.R.V.I.S. was uploaded into a synthetic body and, when combined with the Mind Stone, evolved into The Vision. Vision has been an important hero in the comics for decades, so him being brought into the MCU was a big deal for longtime Marvel fans. That includes Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, because as Bettany recalled, when Feige first saw the actor wearing his Vision makeup, he shed a tear or two. As Bettany put it:

When I first came on set to do makeup tests for Vision, he kind of cried. He's a real fan.

While The Vision doesn't have as large a fanbase as heroes like Batman or Spider-Man, there are certainly plenty of longtime Marvel readers who appreciate him. So for someone like Kevin Feige, who was absorbed in Marvel tales long before he was producing Marvel movies, I can understand why seeing The Vision finally being realized for a live action story could be emotional. Paul Bettany's version of the character looked quite similar to his comic book counterpart, and let's be honest, if it wasn't for the MCU, we may never have seen Vision depicted in a movie. As Bettany noted when speaking with HeyUGuys, these are movies "made by fans," so while Feige is obviously concerned with ensuring each MCU entry is critically and commercially successful, it's a bonus that the man gets to see characters he's spent years reading about are getting their proper due on the big screen, including The Vision.

When we last saw The Vision in Captain America: Civil War, he was feeling guilty about having accidentally paralyzing War Machine during the battle in Leipzig. The movie also saw began exploring the close relationship between Vision and Scarlet Witch, and despite being on opposites sides of the conflict, we've seen in Avengers: Infinity War that they'll become more intimate with one another, which is good timing since the android has found a way to make himself look human. Unfortunately, because Vision is powered by the Mind Stone, that will make him one of Thanos' main targets during Infinity War, leading his allies to take him to Wakanda so they can make one last stand and keep this Infinity Stone out of the Mad Titan's hands.

The Vision will fly back into action when Avengers: Infinity War is released in theaters on April 27. If you're interest in learning what else is in development for the MCU, head to our Marvel movies guide.